BonziBUDDY

BonziBUDDY was a freeware desktop virtual assistant made by Joe and Jay Bonzi in 1999. Upon a user's choice, it would share jokes and facts, manage downloads, sing songs, and talk, among other functions. Some versions of the software were described as spyware and adware. (no shit sherlock)

The software used Microsoft Agent technology similar to Office Assistant, and originally sported Peedy, a green parrot and one of the characters available with Microsoft Agent. Later versions of BonziBuddy in May 2000 featured its own character: Bonzi, the purple gorilla. The program also used a text-to-speech voice to interact with the user. The voice was called Sydney and taken from an old Lernout & Hauspie Microsoft Speech API 4.0 package. It is often referred to in some software as Adult Male #2.

BonziBuddy was discontinued in 2004 after the company behind it faced lawsuits regarding the software and was ordered to pay fines. Bonzi's website remained open after the discontinuation of BonziBuddy, but was shut down at the end of 2008.

Why It’s Cringe:

 * The FTC had to fine Bonzi Software (The company behind BonziBUDDY) because they violated the COPPA Act due to collecting information from children under the age of 13.
 * It was so annoying, it obscure things you needed to see and would make unfunny jokes.
 * Before the rebranding of it’s adds, BonziBUDDY’s ads that it would pop up were scam like and would say false things.
 * BonziBUDDY had stolen Microsoft Agent character, more specifically Peety The Parrot before its eventual rebranding.

Impact:
BonziBUDDY had a very negative impact, not only did it cause problems, but it spawned a number of unfunny memes and actual malware that would destroy your computer. All with BonziBUDDY on it.

Overall, BonziBUDDY is the world's most annoying piece of spyware, and will remain that way forever.